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At twelve years old, young, beautiful, and strong Kara Zor-El was chosen to be sent to Earth from her dying home planet of Krypton. Once on Earth Kara was taken in by a foster family, the Danvers, who taught her to be careful with her extraordinary powers. Now twenty-four, Kara Danvers feels unempowered, a slave to having repressed her innate abilities. She’s still pretty, but with her face hidden behind glasses and her hair pulled back, she doesn’t know it herself. An unexpected disaster forces her to use her incredible powers in public. Energized by her heroic deed, for the first time in her life, Kara begins embracing her extraordinary abilities. She begins helping the people of her city and they soon take notice. She’s even given a new moniker, Supergirl.

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In other words, she's simply what Clark Kent/Superman would have been if Kal-El had been female (or Clark/Superman in drag, if you will). In the comics, such a direct, blatant rip-off of Clark's origin and secret-identity motif would have been considered an insult to the character.

And how ARE they going to address the fact that she's Kal's cousin and that she knows who and what he is because she learned that before she even left Argo City?

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In other words, she's simply what Clark Kent/Superman would have been if Kal-El had been female (or Clark/Superman in drag, if you will). In the comics, such a direct, blatant rip-off of Clark's origin and secret-identity motif would have been considered an insult to the character.

And how ARE they going to address the fact that she's Kal's cousin and that she knows who and what he is because she learned that before she even left Argo City?

Speaking as a huge Supergirl fan I have to agree with this.

Kara's whole deal is that she wasn't raised on Earth from infancy. She landed here in her teens having spent her entire life with Kryptonians. She's a completely different sort of survivor to Clark; for Clark his background is a mystery intially. For Kara they are heartbreaking memory.

Essentially Kara is more like Princess Leia watching Alderaan getting blown up in front of her. Clark is more like Luke.

Edited January 31, 2015 by Lazlo.

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The impression I got from the leaked audition videos, assuming those sides reflect the actual plot, is that this is indeed the case: she definitely remembers and misses Krypton and her parents, and they even threw in a mention of Midvale. I'm not going to link to them, but there are transcripts of some of those audition videos online. (Note: not all; there was one video that also included a scene between Kara and, I assume, Cat Grant, where Kara was very unhappy with a decision Cat had made, and I haven't seen that transcribed.)

The one thing that bugs me so far about the changes is "National City"? They couldn't come up with a better name than that? Hell, if I didn't think the politics had gotten so out of hand there with permits, etc. I'd say they should just go ahead and set - and shoot - it in San Francisco. Can you imagine a better city for a character who can fly?

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Kara Danvers née Zor-El will have her work cut out for her from the get-go, seeing as her adversary in the series pilot will be the DC Comics baddie Lumberjack. To that end, the CBS freshman is seeking a hulk akin to “Rory McCann, the 6-foot-6 actor from Game of Thrones”... to play this “big, burly monster of a man, who has battled Kara’s cousin” — that’d be you-know-who — “in the past” and shows up to ascertain her level of power, on behalf of an unseen superior.

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Question: Supergirl intel, please. I’m obsessed with the trailer. —JonathanAusiello: Nashville‘s Laura Benanti, who plays Kara’s Krypton mom Alura Zor-El, acknowledges that she can’t spill the superbeans, but offers this tantalizing bit: “You’ll see me in flashbacks, you’ll see me in hologram and then you’ll see me in one other capacity, which I can’t tell you [about] — but it is the thing that makes me the most excited and is why I wanted to do the show.”

BONUS SPOILER: Benanti add that Kara’s Supergirl outfit is based on the long, blue gown Alura wears in the trailer. “I have the same belt that she has and the S — which is our family crest, it actually doesn’t stand for ‘super’ — in the top,” she says, laughing. “It’s very ‘hot Yoda.'”

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For those who are interested, the audition sides that leaked over the winter can be found in transcript form here. Some of the dialog made it to the trailer, some didn't, some of it reads like they were deliberately testing the ability of the actors to convincingly deliver incomprehensible drivel.

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The SpoilerTV team received & watched an official screener for Supergirl, and have listed it as "Unsure" (rather than "Hit" or "Miss"). Their reviewers' comments at the bottom of the page are interesting...

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TBH I find SpoilerTV only usable as a tool for reading TV news, I could never take them seriously as critics. I feel like they are pretty bad at this and the less said about the comments section there, the better.

.Supergirl 6 I ended up disappointed that the trailer covered essentially every aspect of the pilot. It has potential, but the pilot isn't stellar. (Pablozky21)

.Supergirl 7 It's a fun and light show, but far from anything special. Mellisa Benoist though did shine as Kara, in my opinion, but some of the supporting cast really let the pilot down. (Robert Fruin)

.Supergirl 9 I really enjoyed this pilot. It's lighthearted and has some really nice heartfelt moments. Melissa Benoist is great as Kara and the supporting cast is great, especially Jeremy Jordan's character. The pilot has a movie like feel to it which I liked. (Nirat Anop)

.Supergirl 6 The tone is light and fun like The Flash but they try to throw too much into the pilot, much of which is covered in the trailer. They need to tone down Supergirl a bit and some of the characters come off as one-sided but the bones are here to create an engaging show. (Dahne)

.Supergirl 5 SO. MANY. CLICHÉS. And not necessarily in a bad way, but certainly not in a good way. The pilot basically relies on that and Superman references. If you've watched the trailer you've watched the pilot. The name/DC association is probably the only thing that'll keep me watching at the minute. (Bradley Adams)

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The SpoilerTV team received & watched an official screener for Supergirl, and have listed it as "Unsure" (rather than "Hit" or "Miss"). Their reviewers' comments at the bottom of the page are interesting...

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Apparently they have updated it since the page you linked to now lists it as a "Hit."

Well that lasted about a day. On June 7th, someone lambasted it. They gave it the lowest score yet with a 4 out of 10 and it's back on the Unsure list. I think those that like it are really going to like it and those that don't will be a noisy nuisance complaining all the time.

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Well that lasted about a day. On June 7th, someone lambasted it. They gave it the lowest score yet with a 4 out of 10 and it's back on the Unsure list. I think those that like it are really going to like it and those that don't will be a noisy nuisance complaining all the time.

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Apparently they have updated it since the page you linked to now lists it as a "Hit."

'Twas ever thus in fandom!

It's a hilarious lesson in the fickle nature of fandom.

They lambasted it because of their own prejudices, then changed that because they noticed the general overall reactions didn't match theirs.

The same might have even eventually happened with just the 6 minute first look, except people would have always wondered if the naysayers had access to more information than them. Thus kind of implying that if the full episode leak WAS deliberate, maybe it was the perfect move. Because then that disappears. People seeing it KNOW that the screaming and yelling contingent don't have extra-secret information... just biases and opinions like the rest of us.

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By the way, does anyone else think it's hilarious that "National City", which sounds like some version of DC by name, is clearly a Southern California analog? (the Danvers house likely a bit more up the coast towards central California, but still south enough to have both palm trees AND some more scrubby trees as well). The actual shooting location is L.A., but they're hiding enough of it to spin it as a different nearby city.

National City seems to allude to DC's original name ("National Comics"), from before they totally renamed their whole business after Detective Comics.

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Don't know if this is considered a spoiler, but just in case, I'm posting it here...

Supergirl - Season 1In the vast DC Comics Universe of super heroes, the rich mythology of Superman, the planet Krypton and the House of El is perhaps the most famous and instantly recognizable. Enter Supergirl (Melissa Benoist)! Born Kara Zor-El on the doomed planet Krypton, the preteen Kara escaped at the same time as the infant Kal-El, but didn't arrive on Earth until many years later after being lost in the Phantom Zone. Protected and raised by her adopted family, the Danvers, Kara grew up in the shadow of her foster sister, Alex, and learned to hide the phenomenal powers she shares with her famous cousin. Years later, at age 24, living in National City and working as an assistant for Catco Worldwide Media mogul Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart), Kara has spent so many years trying to fit in that she forgot to ever stand out. All that changes when she decides to embrace her superhuman abilities and become the hero she was always destined to be. With the help of Daily Planet photographer James Olsen, her bioengineer sister Alex, and the research of the super-secret, off-the-grid Department of Extra-Normal Operations (DEO) and its head Hank Henshaw, who are tasked with keeping the Earth safe from aliens, Kara takes to the skies to protect her world. Her foes include both a sinister extraterrestrial menace and the high-tech terrestrial threat of clever villains with powerful weaponry. Produced by Berlanti Productions (Arrow, The Flash, Pan), this one-hour drama is an epic action-adventure for the entire family. Combining the heart, humor and spectacle of a super hero series, with the week-to-week intrigue of the DEO's investigations, Kara's childhood memories of her time on Krypton and the sophisticated workplace dramedy of her secret identity at Catco, SUPERGIRL is charged with true epic storytelling -- bringing a strong female hero to television screens at long last.

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So many people are going to cringe at parts of that description. Different people at different parts. I personally don't mind, but the super-comic-book-nerd traditionalists are going to riot (again) at the "sophisticated workplace dramedy" piece. They've always had stuff like that in good comics, but never want to admit it. The Arrow newish fans are probably not going to like that part either, but for slightly different reasons (they won't want anything but action scenes). The casual CBS old-fart-viewers, flipping between NCIS shows, will balk at any part with her in her supersuit. The fans of actual "sophisticated workplace dramedies" won't like ANY of the other parts of the show, in costume or not. Any stray fans of the current Superman movies will hate all of this, stem to stern, because very little gets smashed or blown up. Traditional Chris Reeve Superfans (and maybe fans from the Lois & Clark TV show) may like the lighter parts, but won't like the DEO stuff.

Ah who knows. Hope I'm wrong.

Edited June 24, 2015 by Kromm.

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I think this will appeal to more people than you think. --There's already proof interest is there.-- Anyone a fan comics, and especially Superman; everyone who has been craving a female hero show; people who want to watch something (mostly?) family-friendly.

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My sister has no interest in comic books, doesn't like the Avengers, had no interest in watching Arrow or the Flash (she did see the Pilots for both). I let her watch the pilot of Supergirl and she loved it and keeps asking me when it's going to start.

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I’m really looking forward to seeing Supergirl at Comic-Con next week. Is there anything you can tease about her powers? — Dan

Kara basically already knows what powers she has, though she’s not as adept as her cousin at using them. “We’ll absolutely see some flashbacks of her discovering them, because she was 12 years old when she landed here, and she didn’t have these powers on Krypton,” EP Ali Adler says. “Kara hasn’t used these powers very much or very well. There will definitely be a learning curve at the beginning of the season.”

Spoiler Room: Scoop on Agent Carter, Hawaii Five-0, You're the Worst and more

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So many people are going to cringe at parts of that description. Different people at different parts. I personally don't mind, but the super-comic-book-nerd traditionalists are going to riot (again) at the "sophisticated workplace dramedy" piece. They've always had stuff like that in good comics, but never want to admit it. The Arrow newish fans are probably not going to like that part either, but for slightly different reasons (they won't want anything but action scenes). The casual CBS old-fart-viewers, flipping between NCIS shows, will balk at any part with her in her supersuit. The fans of actual "sophisticated workplace dramedies" won't like ANY of the other parts of the show, in costume or not. Any stray fans of the current Superman movies will hate all of this, stem to stern, because very little gets smashed or blown up. Traditional Chris Reeve Superfans (and maybe fans from the Lois & Clark TV show) may like the lighter parts, but won't like the DEO stuff.

Ah who knows. Hope I'm wrong.

Well, speaking as a big fan of Arrow, Lois & Clark, Man of Steel, the Christopher Reeves movies (except the third one, hated that) and sophisticated workplace dramadies (I miss Boston Legal) I am very much looking forward to it. As for NCIS, well I liked it but it's too static for me to still be watching and I won't watch any CSI but I like Sherlock and Unforgetable and even Scorpion so that's pretty typical CBS stuff but I denounce any old fart claims.

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Electricity isn't a bad one to have to show on TV. Because a good part of the time you don't have to show anything but the effects of it. The visible version would only be needed for big fight scenes or little demonstration scenes, and it's a practical effect Hollywood is fairly used to doing thanks to decades of faking lightning on film.

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Actually, I'm more concerned about her 'look'; since she's basically the embodiment of electricity. Will we get something similar to Electro(Amazing Spiderman 2)? Then again, on Flash and Arrow they've managed to get most of the costumes to look more "real world" than the comic counterparts. Anyway....

TVLine has learned that the third episode of CBS’ freshman superhero series will introduce the recurring character of Lucy Lane. In her mid-20s to early 30s, Lucy is described as as brash, funny and beautiful as her sister Lois, yet strong, smart and successful in her own right.

2.) Hank Henshaw: Comics fated to become the world destroying level evil Cyborg Superman (or on this show maybe just a more generic named Cyborg)

3.) Maxwell Lord: May start out evil-ish, but it's more likely he starts out neutral then (although he never changes his name to a codename) become a super-evil possibly mind-controlling master villain

4.) Lucy Lane: traditionally not on a villain path, but in the new 52 becomes the villainous Superwoman (although it the comics this also relied on General Sam Lane also acting kind of villain-y.

We also have other suspects...

5.) Alex Danvers: people were caught up briefly a few months ago in the idea that since Alex is technically Luthor's name, that this Alex is fated to fill a Luthor-like purpose. Seems weak, but can we totally rule it out?

6.) Cat Grant: Not superpowered villainy, but in the Supergirl comics at one point Cat was Supergirl's biggest antagonist, because in THAT setup she got readership for her column by going after Supergirl in them. The same thing could be played out here with this richer version of Cat being J. Jonah Jameson to Supergirl instead of Perry White (like we THINK she will be based on one episode).

7.) James Olsen: Even Jimmy Olsen has been turned bad over the years a few times in comic book plots. Don't rule it out totally.

Not counting Kara's aunt, since there's no mystery to her already being a villain.

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I'd rule out James Olsen, because they've already made so many changes to the character, and we need some people firmly in the 'hero' side.

So a FOURTH person in the cast fated by comics to become a villain.

Come on guys! The fake out setup structure is getting SO big now.

Supergirl Future Villain Scorecard:

1.) Winn Schott: ...

2.) Hank Henshaw: ...

3.) Maxwell Lord: ...

4.) Lucy Lane: ..

Ugh, yeah. I don't know why they are doing this. Schott especially, with him being a co-worker with a crush on Kara and then knowing her secret identity. That should have just been a new, non-comics character.

I can see them going with LL eventually going bad if they want to give Supergirl more female villains to fight. (This is the first I've heard of LL as a villain, though. New 52...)

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I just hope the love triangle with her being Jimmy's ex won't be emphasized. I'm just super sick of bad romance writing on comic book shows. The pilot really impressed me in this regard - both Arrow and The Flash spent way more time hitting us over the head with Oliver/Laurel and Barry/Iris anvils. The Kara/Jimmy one wasn't more than a mild jolt. Let it continue remaining in the background for now, please.

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There was a Comic-Con forum where the "Alex ≅ Lex" question was asked, and my understanding is that they point-blank said they had never thought of it that way, at all. So unless they were doing a total head-fake (and jeopardizing the dramatic structure of the show, because who does she have left after that except her cousin Carleton the Doorman), I am planning on resting easy with Alex being not-evil (caveat the whole DEO thing).

So far as the love triangle thing goes, I'm not sure I see anything that I would count as one. I saw Wynn having an unrequited interest in Kara, who has an apparently unreturned interest in Jimmy. Personally, I don't think I can think of it as an actual triangle unless at least one of the legs is two-way, whether it's "person wants one of the members of an existing couple" (Barry => Iris/Eddie) or "person is actively interested in two different people" (Betty <=> Archie <=> Veronica, or every season finale of The Bachelor(ette)). Right now, other than the fact (established in the First Look) that Kara's interested in dating, I have no idea what her romantic life is going to look like, if any. At the same time, if Lucy is to be recurring, they could set aside the SuperWoman angle in favor of making her Jimmy's still-active long-distance girlfriend, which would set up a triangle if Kara isn't able to let go of her Jimmy-fantasies. It also occurs to me that an excellent actress in the role, from the looks, age, and historic shout-out perspectives, would be Laura Vandervoort, depending on her availability from Bitten.

I don't know where Maxwell Lord has gone in the New 52, but I could see him being used as a corporate rival to Cat, rather than as a supervillain in his own right.

(I almost lost this whole post, so special thanks to the auto-save feature!)

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Ausiello: A whole world of hurt around Episode 3. That’s when infamous DC villain Reactron is poised to take aim at Kara. The nuclear-powered, exoskeletal chest-plated madman has a long-held grudge against Superman, but, for some reason, it’s his cousin he’s striking out against (possibly because she has her own TV series and Superman doesn’t).

Fun bonus fact, free of charge: In the Superman: New Krypton comic, Reactron is responsible for the deaths of Kara’s parents.

Edited July 22, 2015 by Trini.

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Fun bonus fact, free of charge: In the Superman: New Krypton comic, Reactron is responsible for the deaths of Kara’s parents.

Of course he is - and in the S1 finale of Supergirl, Kara is going to use superspeed to travel back in time to save her parents from Reactron, thereby creating a singularity that threatens the world...

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Morgan’s Leslie [Willis] is a confident, abrasive and funny shock-jock who works for CatCo Media, the conglomerate owned by Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart). When an accident makes her as dangerous and shocking as her words, Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) must stop her.

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In the comics, Hellgrammite is actually entomologist Roderick Rose who, thanks to some experimentation, is transformed into the insect-like villain who draws his name from the actual hellgrammite bug. Hellgrammite’s comic-book powers include super-strength, improved jumping — or hopping, in this case — and can produce cocoons to imprison foes or even transform them into larvae versions of himself. Those with an aversion to bugs may not want to look too deeply into the character’s origins.

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As far as romance goes, it might be helpful to the show that Supergirl doesn't have an iconic love interest from the comics, so they really are free to do whatever they want in that area. At least I think so- someone can tell me if I'm wrong, but I don't think I know of any one true love for Supergirl (she doesn't have a male equivalent of a Lois Lane or Iris West, right?)

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As far as romance goes, it might be helpful to the show that Supergirl doesn't have an iconic love interest from the comics, so they really are free to do whatever they want in that area. At least I think so- someone can tell me if I'm wrong, but I don't think I know of any one true love for Supergirl (she doesn't have a male equivalent of a Lois Lane or Iris West, right?)

I was going to say "they rebooted the character so many times she never got a chance for that", but that's actually not strictly true. After all, the "classic" version (technically the second one, since there was a one-off version before her) lasted almost 30 years.

Again... what??? Actually it was Lex impersonating his own son. Or rather creating a fictional son via clone and brain transplant. Whatever.

So yeah. No real boyfriend. They could recycle the name "Richard Malverne" in the new series--it wouldn't be surprising--but they're hardly bound by it.

Heck, if you read Dickie's poor tale, he in fact dies of cancer by the time she's the age shown shown on this show (of course she'd been heroing since being a teen in that version). Yes, Supergirl's ex actually dies of something as mundane yet upsetting as cancer.

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I think it's DC policy to reboot their universe any time Kara gets old enough for the "girl" handle to become questionable. :)

Bingo. I remember the most controversial reboot was in 1982, just a few years before she died in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

What made it so controversial was that up until then, Kara/Linda (and why the show isn't calling her Linda Danvers is beyond me!) had been shown as a 25/26-year-old woman whose current job was that of an actress on a hit soap-opera in NYC, when TPTB suddenly realized that because (1) Superman was only supposed to be about 30 and (2) Kara had been only 15 when she first arrived on Earth but had somehow been allowed to age to the point that instead of being half Superman's age, she was almost caught up to him age-wise, she should be transferred from New York to Chicago and rebranded as a 19-year-old college student (never mind that she had already attended college twice since arriving on Earth), as if none of Kara's previous experiences and career changes during her time on Earth had ever happened. Their excuse for doing so was twofold. First, they said that it was simply illogical for her to have aged that much when Superman had always remained 30. Then, they said that it was ridiculous to keep calling her "Supergirl" when at 25/26, she should have changed her name to "Superwoman" long ago, just as her cousin had changed from "Superboy" to "Superman" at some point in his early 20s, yet for legal reasons, they couldn't simply change her name to "Superwoman" now after nearly 25 years of calling her "Supergirl." As they put it, "Just imagine calling a 39-year-old 'Supergirl'!"

Needless to say, readers were not amused. In fact, to put it point-blank, they were royally PISSED OFF.

By the way, I was not aware that Dick Malverne had originally died of cancer. The last issue of "Supergirl" before Crisis only showed him suddenly showing up in Kara's/Linda's life again while she was taking a walk across campus trying to sort out the problems that she was having with the chap who was her boyfriend at that particular time. There was never any follow-up to that cliffhanger.

Edited August 18, 2015 by legaleagle53.

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Bingo. I remember the most controversial reboot was in 1982, just a few years before she died in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

What made it so controversial was that up until then, Kara/Linda (and why the show isn't calling her Linda Danvers is beyond me!) had been shown as a 25-26-year-old woman whose current job was that of an actress on a hit soap-opera in NYC, when TPTB suddenly realized that because (1) Superman was only supposed to be about 30 and (2) Kara had been only 15 when she first arrived on Earth but had somehow been allowed to age to the point that instead of being half Superman's age, she was almost caught up to him age-wise, she should be transferred from New York to Chicago and rebranded as a 19-year-old college student (never mind that she had already attended college twice since arriving on Earth), as if none of Kara's previous experiences and career changes during her time on Earth had ever happened. Their excuse for doing so was twofold. First, they said that it was simply illogical for her to have aged that much when Superman had always remained 30. Then, they said that it was ridiculous to keep calling her "Supergirl" when at 25-26, she should have changed her name to "Superwoman" long ago, just as her cousin had changed from "Superboy" to "Superman" at some point in his early 20s, yet for legal reasons, they couldn't simply change her name to "Superwoman" now after nearly 25 years of calling her "Supergirl." As they put it, "Just imagine calling a 39-year-old 'Supergirl'!"

Needless to say, readers were not amused. In fact, to put it point-blank, they were royally PISSED OFF.

Then they killed her off in after that series and her movie failed. Hopefully this show will be more successful. BTW, Kara was usually shown to have taken the "Superwoman" name when "imaginary" stories were told about Superman's future, as it was assumed she'd take the name once she took over from him due to retirement or death.

Kara also was linked to a second Dick, Grayson, whom she seemingly married in another "imaginary" future story, and whom she had a crush on in the pre-Flashpoint DCU. If the show manages to integrate Comet and/or Jerro it will have earned my respect!

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“We hope to explore the history that Lucy has with James Olsen — or, as Lucy knows him, Jimmy Olsen,” Adler tells EW. “I think we’re going to bring in her father. She not only plays a romantic foil with whatever Kara and James are brewing, but people will also be surprised that she’s really a woman’swoman. She and Kara develop their own friendship, too. We’re not just bringing her in to purposefully create tension. She serves a larger story drive.”